The father of a missing College of New Jersey student is holding out hope that his daughter will return home safe.

Christopher Aiello said Monday afternoon that there are still no witnesses, no notes and no body after his daughter, Paige Aiello, disappeared nearly a week ago.

“It’s been perplexing to the authorities because if this was a suicide, then so far it’s not adding up for them,” Aiello said. “That’s why we’re still keeping hope alive and preceding accordingly.”

Paige Aiello, who is a captain of the college’s tennis team, was last seen at 1 p.m. last Tuesday at her parents’ home in Hillsborough by her father.

Advertisement

Around 8:30 p.m. that same day, Aiello’s purse, cell phone and car keys were found by a good samaritan on the south walkway on the upper level of the George Washington Bridge. Roughly two hours later, New Brunswick Police found the Audi Aiello was driving in a parking garage off Somerset Street in New Brunswick.

Christopher Aiello, an attorney, said authorities have located the route that his daughter took from New Brunswick.

“She got to Penn Station in New York and now they’re trying to check cameras,” Christopher Aiello said of the investigation. “She took the train from New Brunswick that went to Penn Station in the city.”

A spokesman for the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office said Monday afternoon there were no updates to report.

Approximately 3 p.m. Tuesday, her mother, Robin Aiello, noticed that Paige Aiello had taken the family’s Audi without permission. At 7:45 p.m., the family reported her missing to Hillsborough Township Police after several failed attempts to reach her on her cell phone.

Christopher Aiello said the case has always been a missing persons.

“It should have never been assumed it to be anything else at this point,” he said. “I think some people assumed suicide and they maybe right at the end of the day, but a this moment it doesn’t add up.”

Paige Aiello, who turned 22 Thursday, was battling stress, according to her father.

“She would have good days and bad days — Sunday was an excellent day, Monday wasn’t so hot and Tuesday was just kind of down the middle,” Christopher Aiello recalled of his daughter’s demeanor before her disappearance. “It’s just hard to believe a child that never stopped smiling just hit a wall. It’s terrible what sometimes happens with the mind.”